American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Quarter plate daguerreotype. (Great clarity and contrast, few scattered spots, light tarnish near lower left corner, faint horizontal surface scratches visible to the left of subject.) Housed in full leather case (fully separated at spine, surface wear throughout). A fine studio portrait of a young man holding a large, “triple decker” shelf clock, probably made in Forestville, Connecticut. 

Curiously, the sitter appears to be displaying a clock case lacking its movement.  There are no hands or numerals visible on the face.

There were many clock makers in Forestville, though the style of this clock – a so-called “Sleigh Front” suggests it might have been made by J.C. Brown at the Forestville Clock Manufactory, circa 1850-1855.